Six Feet - Happy Birthday Mom

Today is Mom's birthday.

She's 72.

Or 6'.

Get it?

72" is 6"!  LOL

We took dinner out and had a great evening with Mom, Tom, Frank, Katie, Phillip & me.

Lots of laughter and love!!!

God Bless!!!

Mattie Mays Excellent Disney Adventure - Day Four

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTIE MAY

FIVE YEARS OLD

Mattie May went to bed a four year old and woke up a five year old. Believe me, there was no way she was letting us forget that today was her birthday. We all sang happy birthday to wake her up. We had a few gifts for her to open, including her birthday ears. I've decided that everyone should wear Mickey ears on their birthday! They're just too much fun!

We had a great breakfast at Chef Mickey's where we were joined by the big guy himself. Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy were all there. They each came to our table to wish her a happy birthday.

They were all great and the food was fantastic. Donald duck was even able to get a smile and a laugh out of Frank! We all know how difficult that is!

There was so much going on, she was having trouble eating. And before she finished her breakfast, our waitress brought out her birthday cup cake. The candles and the wrapper were the only things not edible. Even that little Mickey face was made out of chocolate.

Look at the five year old smile! Who couldn't love this kid?!

About all she could finish was her milk and then she was ready to ride the monorail to EPCOT. By the way, did you know EPCOT is an acronym? Do you know what the actual name is? Well if you promise to read to the end of this post, I'll tell you! As anxious as she was to find Mulan, she asked to go in "the ball" first.

OK More useless trivia - do you know the ball is called Space Ship Earth? That is also the name of the ride inside!

While we waited for our FB time for Test Track, we watched Captain EO. Let me say, that movie is 25 years old but the special effects are still really cool. They must have really been ahead of their time when they filmed that! Mattie May was so excited that she was getting to watch Michael Jackson, but when the villain cat lady thing appeared on the screen, I started looking for a way for us to get out of there! She screamed this terrified scream, a truly blood curdling scream. Katie got her to take of her glasses and sit in her lap until she calmed down. She put her glasses back on and just closed her eyes when "the scary cat lady" came on the screen. She was very happy when she turned into a nice person at the end of the show. As we were walking out, she just kept jabbering about how good that was and if we had time could we see it again. I guess she has a love/hate feeling for Captain EO.

To waste more time we rode Imagination w/Figment. That is a really cute and educational ride. We had a pretzels and popcorn for snacks because we couldn't find an ice cream stand. We looked all the way to Test Track and never did pass one.

Test Track is amazing!! We were a bit concerned about the simulations of wrecks (we're all still a bit jumpy from last year!). OH MY GOODNESS! That was the most awesome ride! Trina, I'm really sorry you didn't get to ride it, but now you have a reason to go back! It is so cool!!!

Heading into the World Showcase, we found Mattie May an ice cream stand! She hadn't had any all day and we were afraid she would go into withdrawals! That kid loves ice cream! She would eat it every day at every meal if we would let her!

We visited Mexico for a while, walked through Norway and found the castle where we were to have her birthday dinner and then made a bee line to China. This was going to be the most important stop on our entire trip.

Why?

Mulan is in China!

We had to wait about fifteen minutes for her to come out but it was worth the wait. Mattie May patiently waited her turn with all the other princess in line. I don't think I have ever seen that child's eyes light up like they did when she saw her. When it was her turn, Mulan motioned for Mattie May to come on up, but before she took a step, she respectfully bowed to Mulan. It was so cute and Mulan was very impressed with her. Mattie May explained to Mulan that she liked her so much because she knew karate too. Mulan asked her what belt she was and asked her to show her some moves. She did part of her kata for her and gave her a bit of surprise when she did her little yell! Mulan said "Every good warrior packs a surprise!"

Mulan was impressed with Mattie May's kata.

They talked for a bit longer and Mulan signed her book, then they posed together for some pictures. I think Mattie May could have stayed right there for the rest of the day and been happier than any other child in the park!

Mulan asked for a Warrior pose!

Mulan gave her a great big hug, wished her happy birthday and told her to keep practicing her karate. Maybe next time they see each other, they can demonstrate some of their weapons skills! LOL

Always time for a silly picture!

After we watched an amazing movie on China in a round theater, we headed to Germany. Katie, Mattie May and I waited in line to see Snow White and Grumpy disappeared! He reappeared just as it was Mattie May's turn to speak to Snow White. He was a very happy camper with a bratwurst, sauerkraut and beer in his hands! Snow White got pretty amused when Mattie May told her she lived with one of her dwarfs. She asked which one and Mattie May told her Grumpy and showed her where he was sitting. Snow White waved and blew a kiss to him! It was just priceless!

From Germany we walked to Italy where Frank insisted that we try some gelato. It was only about 45 minutes before we our dinner reservations, but we had some anyway. I had never had any and it is probably a good thing that there is no where near home that sells the real stuff or I would be huge!!!! That is some yummy stuff!

Italian Gelato on the way to dinner?

Of course! It's Mattie May's birthday!

It started getting cool and we forgot Mattie May's jacket, so as we walked through Italy, America and Japan, Katie and I would walk through the stores looking for a child's jacket. We could only find clothes in adult sizes. It was so strange. Finally in the Japan pavilion I found some cute hooded jackets that Katie liked, so I got one that would fit her and we rolled the sleeves up and Mattie May wore it the rest of the night when we were outside.

It was taking so long that Frank and Mattie May came in to find us. While they walked around, they found the oyster bar. Not an oyster bar for eating but one for buying pearls! Frank had snuck around and bought two oysters for me for our anniversary. He knows how much I love pearls and I can't wear my pearl stud earrings any more.

This store was so much fun. I don't remember the conversation, but the little girl helping us got Mattie May to count for her in Japanese. She, the girl helping us, got so excited! She had all the other girls in there listening to her. I think she would have taken Mattie May home with her if we would have let her!

She was also the person that opened the oysters to find the pearls. After she opens the oyster, she leads everyone in a count down in Japanese as she takes out the pearl. When she did our pearls, she had Mattie May lead the store in the count down! I think everyone in there was amazed that this little girl with blue eyes and blonde hair was counting in Japanese!

Both of my oysters had pearls and they are very close in size but one has a yellow tint to it. They wanted me to change one pearl so they would match, but these are the ones I picked and the ones I wanted. Besides, they are on opposite sides of my head and so far, no one has noticed the color difference!

When the girl finished getting Frank's order on how he wanted the earrings, she came from behind the counter and had an origami crane she had made for Mattie May. She sang happy birthday to her using the crane like a puppet. She not only gave her the crane, she gave her a huge hug to go with it!

Because we had spent so much time in Japan, we had to practically run through Morocco, France, the United Kingdom and Canada to get back to Norway for dinner! Our reservation was for 7:55 and we walked up at 7:53! Yes, we were rushing! And all for nothing. They were running behind and they pushed our reservations up until 8:15! I'm glad we were doing so much walking since we seemed to be eating later and later each night!

To pass the time while we waited, we road Maelstrom, the Viking boats telling the story of Norway and the Vikings. It was another fun and educational ride, but I was just glad to be sitting down not rushing.

Our dinner was very good. We all tried something new, including Frank! I almost fell out of my chair! He never tries new stuff!! Mattie May was pleasantly surprised when she figured out she was having dinner with the Disney princesses. As much as she wore a tiara when she was little, she is not much into the princesses now. But she still had fun. During the Parade of Princesses she not only got to walk in Arial's group, but she got to hold her hand during the entire parade.

Her Mattieism for today wasn't something she said, it was something she did. As all the princesses, big and small, curtsied at the end of the parade, Mattie May bowed at the waist like she does for karate! All the people around her noticed. We actually didn't notice until we were watching the video and saw some customer's point and laugh.

She was promised she could have anything she wanted to eat as long as it wasn't ice cream or cake, it had to actually have some nutritional value! I guess when it's your birthday, any meal can be special! HAHAHA!

A hot dog for her special Birthday dinner!

Frank and Mattie May walked outside to find out what all the noise was we could here. It was the laser/fireworks show. They couldn't see all of it from where we were, but they could see enough to know it was an amazing show! And when they came back in, we surprised Mattie May with another birthday cake! It was a great chocolate cake and it was delish! We carried most of it back to our room because we also had dessert with our meals. Our waiter brought us one of each thing they had and we shared them all. And I wonder why I didn't loose any weight while we were gone!

On the way back to the monorail, we were finally able to take our time and not rush. My feet and legs were very grateful for that! I never complained, but I wondered with each step when my legs were just going to stop and say no more!! Next time I go, I'm not going to forget my pedometer so I'll know how far I walk each day!

We thought Mattie May was going to fall asleep on the monorail ride back to the hotel, but she didn't. And we walked back to our room just in time to see the lighted boat parade, so we went down to the beach and watched the rest of that. Lots of great Disney movie songs. Katie and I sang as many of them as we could at the top of our lungs. I am sure we woke some people up, but I didn't think about that until later. We were having to much fun!

Tomorrow is Disney Hollywood Studios!

God Bless!!

EPCOT is an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. That's your useless trivia for today!

Mattie Mays Excellent Disney Adventure - Day Three

I have had so much fun posting Mattie May's journal. Have you had fun reading her post? I really can't wait (well, I really can) until she can really write things herself. I can't tell you how many hours we spend, she has pencil in hand and paper in front of her and she just asks how to spell each word that she wants to get on paper. She tells me all the time she is going to be a writer.

I am definitely not the writer that she is, but I can add captions and comments to pictures. Although I don't have many pictures to choose from seeing as how I left my camera in Texas!

Day three of our adventure is actually day two of our time in Florida. Traci had told Mattie May about the safari ride at Animal Kingdom and shown her pictures, so this is where she wanted to go on our first full day. We caught the bus and off we went. This was the same bus ride where this happened.

As soon as we got off the bus, Katie and I both realized we had left our sun glasses in the room, including Mattie May's. So we stopped in the first shop we saw and got some. I don't think we could have survived without them. Seriously!

Katie's are super cute! Little Mickey's on hot pink!

Animal Kingdom still had their Christmas decorations up too. My favorite trees of all the parks. I thought of my mom when I saw these trees. Wild animals and prints all over. It was amazing. We found the PhotoPass photographer at this tree and she let us in on the secret of the Magic Photo. They are so cool. You will get to see them when I get my pictures from Disney. They are so neat.

" I look just like Tigger!"

As we headed up the path to the safari and saw the Tree of Life for the first time. Katie got so excited, I think she shed a tear. See, she does take after me! It was amazing. We have seen it on TV and in pictures many times, but it is kind of like the Grand Canyon, pictures just don't do it justice. You have to see it for yourself and feel your breath being taken away.

Tree of Life

It looks like it is coming our of our heads!

We ran into Lilo and Stitch. Mattie May had a great time with them. She had Kia Lan on her shirt and Stitch kept trying to get her to get a different shirt. It was great.

We got tickets for the safari and had more than enough time to head to Rafiki's Island?? The train ride over was nice. We really enjoyed "the island". It was fun and educational at the same time and that is always nice. Here, we met:

Pocahontas

Jiminy Cricket

and of course, Rafiki.

Mattie May wasn't real sure about him. I don't think she has seen the Lion King and isn't familiar with his character. But she did fine.

It was time to head to the safari, but as we were walking out Mattie May spotted the ice cream stand. So naturally we had to get ice cream. We met Casey here. She just started talking to Mattie May as if none of us were there. Of course she had to wish her a happy birthday because she had her birthday button on. Mattie May said to her "Thank you, but my birthday really isn't until tomorrow."

"REALLY?!?!?" Casey squealed, "Tomorrow is my birthday too!" Mattie May ran around the back and gave her a big hug and told her happy birthday too! I think Mattie May would have stayed with her the rest of the day. And to make things even better, Casey gave her her ice cream for her birthday!

Casey

The safari was so cool. It was very much like the drive through safaris that are all around, but oh so much better. This ride created another Mattieism. After she saw Traci's pictures, she kept telling us "you take a safari in a cari!" LOL So that was the name we gave it!

The Safari in the Cari

We think we get so close to the giraffes at the Abilene Zoo, but there is still a fence between you and them. Look how close we are to the one in this picture. Remember this was taken with an iPhone and no zoom! If only he would have looked my way!

Now she wanted to go ride the mountain. This was the ride we learned the importance of the FastPass! It was a two hour wait and the had given out all the FastPasses for the day. So sadly, we didn't get to ride this one. Yeah, some tears were flowing but after the promise of a snack, Katie settled down and got ready for something else.

We walked right up on the line for "Finding Nemo, The Musical" and of course, they were just shutting it off. Another disappointment until the girl saw Mattie May's birthday button. With a quick happy birthday wish, she let us in and told us to walk to the front! We had great seats! And it is a definitely a don't miss show. We had fun watching how they worked the puppets, especially Crush. I think that took five people to work! I don't know how because we were so close to the front, but Frank enjoyed a little nap while we were here!

Finding Nemo Musical

We headed over to the dinosaur part to see what was there. The roller coaster there looked really cool, but Mattie May was too short to ride. Frank decided he could get her on and the entire time we were in line, Katie and I kept telling him he would be the one dealing with Mattie May's tears this time! He kept telling us he would get her on there! Guess who was right? Yeah, Katie and I were! Thank goodness there was a popcorn stand nearby and a big bucket of popcorn can chase the biggest tears away. Katie also found the first hidden Mickey in this area!

We got in line to see Pluto and Goofy while we enjoyed our popcorn. A very interesting artist came by while we were waiting. At first we thought she was a member of the clean up cast, she was caring a broom & dust pan and dressed just like them. But the dust pan was full of water and the broom was formed into a giant paint brush. She would "paint" the characters from memory.

She said this was much more fun in the cooler weather. In the hot sun, her "art" doesn't last very long. It wasn't to much longer until we got to see Pluto and Goofy. These were the first two characters that Mattie May really interacted with. She couldn't wait to give them both a kiss on the nose!

Pluto & Goofy

Back to the Tree of Life we went. It was time to see things Through the Eye's of Bugs! This started out Innocent enough, but then the big hopper came out and Mattie May was in Grumpy's lap in a flash. Thank goodness she was there when the spiders started coming down from the ceiling! She was not a happy camper and tried her hardest to crawl inside his shirt! Katie and I were enjoying the show until the hornets stung us. Lets just suffice it to say, Mattie May didn't see a need to do this show any more!

Bug's Life

The Rain Forrest Cafe is just at the entrance of the park and that is where Mattie May wanted to eat. I don't know why. She hates it when the animals start going off and we were right in front of the big male elephant. After the first couple of times she realized he wasn't actually going to run over her and she enjoyed the rest of our meal.

We caught one of the last buses back to the hotel. Everyone got bathed and ready for bed. Tomorrow was The Big Day! Mattie May's birthday, our reason we were on this excellent adventure in the first place.

This was the wreath on the end of the Contemporary.

Tomorrow - Day Four - Mattie May's Happy Fifth Birthday!

God Bless!

Mattie May's Excellent Disney Adventure - Day Four From Her Journal

Oops! I missed two days! Sunday ended up being a pretty busy day for us and I really try to stay off the internet (not the computer) on Sundays. Yesterday (Monday) was an accidental holiday for Frank and I. Mattie May was out of school for MLK day. One day last week Katie had mentioned that if one of us could take off work to keep her that it would help her out a lot. Well, we both asked off and didn't tell the other one. Wow! Great communication skills there! Oh well! It ended up being a great day. We started by taking Tramp to the vet for his follow up puppy shots and just a check up by our doctor. Good news! He is very healthy and in overall great health. And he wasn't to afraid of going to the doctor! It was good too for Mattie May to be in on the responsibility of talking to the doctor and to see that Tramp didn't cry when he got a shot like she does!!

After breakfast at McDonald's we had planned on going to the zoo but it was still a bit too chilly, we went to the movie instead. Mattie May and I finally finished reading "The Chronicles of Narnia - The Dawn Treader" right before Christmas, but there was so much going on we never made it to the movie, so that is where we headed. It was a good movie but not as good as the first two in my opinion. The first thing I noticed was it was not a Disney movie. Why did Disney not do this one? I guess I need to do some research and find out.

Now to be perfectly honest, I have not read the books that the first two Narnia movies were based on so I don't know if this was the case in those movies, but Dawn Treader was all out of order! That really bothered me. And I guess that is why they had to add some things that were not really in the book, to make the movie flow. I am glad we saw it, but I am also glad we waited until we had finished the book. Mattie May is only five, but she kept noticing and telling me what was different in the movie. Hopefully this will keep her interested in books and not rely so much on movies!

We did manage to make it to the zoo. When we left the movie, it had warmed up considerably with just a little wind. We had an enjoyable time. I just love watching Mattie May (and Frank) try to get the animals to interact with them!

Now on to Mattie May's journal entry that should have been posted yesterday. It is from the fourth day of our trip which was her birthday. I think this was my favorite day of the entire trip. Maybe it was because of all the attention she received from it being her birthday, or maybe just the way she was able to interact with the people in the different countries pavilions in EPCOT. Or it could have been that was the day Frank got my pearl earrings! I don't know but enjoy her entry!

I just love her artwork!

God Bless!

Bitter Sweet

Yesterday was a very bitter sweet day for me.

The sweet - my baby turned 25! I can't believe that Katie is a quarter of a century. It seems she should be about Mattie May's size, being her silly self and passing out her special love to everyone she would meet.

The bitter - I attended the memorial for my boss's 25 year old son that died over the weekend from a drug overdose. He was such a sweet and loving young man that could just never find his place in life. He will live in our hearts forever.

Fast Week

Man last week past in a hurry! Not much happened during the week, just work and the regular daily grind. Nothing exciting but nothing to worry about either.

Friday I got off work early so Frank and I took Mattie May to the zoo. Then we headed to Abuelo's (my fav) for an early dinner so we could hit the sack early. We had to get up at 3:30 yes that's AM!) for a fishing tournament. You can read about that here, Just an absolutely beautiful day. I really hope you got to enjoy it.

Sunday was church then home to fix brunch. No unexpected visitors this week, just Buddy, Katie and Mattie May. Buddy and Katie had a birthday party to go to so Mattie May stayed with us and took her nap. Even though it was extremely windy, we tried to get some family pictures made of them. Between the wind and the three year old we didn't have much luck. Still it was a great day and weekend.

Hope you have a great week.
OH, and tomorrow is Frank's birthday and I still don't have him a gift or card! Any suggestions?

Mattie May is THREE!

I can not believe my beautiful Mattie May is three years old. Her birthday was actually a week ago when Frank and I were out of town, but Katie had her birthday today. Lots of family and church family were there. They had such a great time.

Happy Birthday my little princess. Grumpy and I love you so very much.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Busy Weekend

This was another fun filled weekend.

We started Friday night at Makaley's 11th Birthday. This is Makaley holding Mattie May and the friends she had stay the night with her. I hear there was some mischief going on, but mainly done by Hysti! I know while we were still there, she had several of them scared. I just remember all the slumber parties we had and look forward to when Mattie May has them.
Saturday morning we slept in and then started getting busy. Mattie May got a manicure and pedicure by Mommie. She got orange nails with Jack-O-Lanterns on the thumb nails. Then she worked on her Trick or Treat bucket. She wanted a purple bucket and just stuck craft foam stickers all over it. It was easy, quick, and cheap! And she loves doing it.
Saturday night we went to Boo at the Zoo where she met up with her friend Wesley. They are in Bible class together. Doesn't Wesley look cute in her veterinarian costume? Her grandmother made it for her. And of course, our little angel. Another quick and cheap costume using what we had at home. Thank goodness for the dress up box we have!
I could not believe the crowd that was at the zoo Saturday night! We didn't stay very long because of all the lines. She wasn't to interested in getting the candy, just wanted to see the animals. She didn't even get to see her favorite, the giraffes, because the bridge was so crowded. And we really wanted to get her out of there. It is amazing how ADULTS take advantage of a child's activity to lose all morality (if they had any to begin with!). The way some of the people were dressed... Oh my!

Lisa that works with Frank won tickets to the circus and gave them to him. So nice! Thanks Lisa. The ticket was for two adults and three children so Chris and Nikki joined us. It started our great. Mattie May and Nikki met a clown and he was so nice. He gave them hugs, candy and asked to take a picture! Mattie May just couldn't take her eyes off him!
The seating was first come, first serve, so we got there about an hour early and ended up with great seats. There were pony rides and elephant rides. We just watched the others do this. But Mattie May sat very still just looking around and watching all the people.

Then, promptly at 5 PM the lights went down, the ring master came out and this is how Mattie May sat through the entire thing...
She woke up during intermission to go to the restroom then went right back to sleep. She didn't see a thing. But she is so funny. Grumpy asked her how the circus was and she said "It was great!"! How would she know?

I hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Going Back in Time

I have been practicing some techniques on Scrapblog.com. This time I used pictures from the day Mattie May was born, January 3, 2006. I had fun putting this one together. There is no music, it wouldn't download for some reason. For some of you, this will be the first time you have seen my MayMay as a newborn. For others, I am sure it will stir some emotions that you had on that day just as it did me.

Tip: if you click on the scrapblog emblem on the bottom of the scrapblog, it will open so that you can open it for Full Screen View. Let me know if you have any problems viewing.

Happy Birthday Traci!

Today is Traci's birthday! Yeah Traci! What can I tell you about her that I have not already told you? She is a great Aunt to Katie and Mattie May and my sister that I always write about. I am always so proud to tell everyone that she is the principle at her shcool and she is working on her doctorate. I can't wait 'til she finishes so I can say we have a Doctor in the family! Happy Birthday Traci - I Love You!


Post Script - It is difficult to find pictures of Traci, because, like me, she is always behind the camera, not in front of it. Of the few pictures I have found, I am having trouble getting them scanned. I will keep trying though.

Happy Birthday to my Favorite Fisherman

If you know me, you know I love to fish. You also know that we keep up with the pro fishermen like other people keep up with pros in other sports. I have favorites like Hank Parker, Kevin VanDam (KVD), Fish Fishburn, and Ish Monroe. But non of these guys are my favorite!

My all time favorite fisherman lives with me and takes me fishing with him! Today is his birthday, and we celebrated this weekend by fishing two tournaments! We even weighed fish both days.HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART

I LOVE YOU!

Happy Birthday Trina!

Today *April 10* is my cousin Trina's birthday, the oldest of the three granddaughters (I have to remind her of that even though I am already a grandma and she's not!). I just want to say - I love you and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Everyone please click over to wish her a happy birthday! Next year will 'THE BIG ONE'!

When was this? She's holding Katie!

The 80's look good on you!